Plymouth State receives second seed in ECAC New England Mens Basketball Tournament

Feb 28, 2005

PLYMOUTH, N.H.

- Plymouth State University's men's basketball team received a
post-season berth for the fourth straight season and eighth time in
the last 10 years Monday with an invitation to the 2005 Eastern
College Athletic Conference (ECAC) New England Division III
Tournament.

The second-seeded Panthers, 19-9, will host seventh-seeded Western
New England College, 17-9, Wednesday evening (7:00 p.m.) at Foley
Gymnasium in a first-round contest.

The other first-round games Wednesday include top-seeded
Colby-Sawyer hosting eighth-seeded Keene State, third-seeded
Wheaton entertaining sixth-seeded Emerson, and fourth-seeded Rhode
Island College hosting fifth-seeded Lasell. The semifinals
and championship will be at the sites of the highest remaining
seeds either Friday-Saturday or Saturday-Sunday, with the
announcement of the dates and sites coming Thursday morning.

Plymouth State, which went to the NCAA Tournament last season after
consecutive ECAC appearances in 2002 and 2003, made this year's
tournament after finishing third in the Little East Conference
during the regular season (with a 9-5 record) and advancing to the
championship game of the LEC Tournament. PSU fell just short
of an LEC title for the third-straight year last Saturday with
a heart-stopping, 135-130 double overtime epic loss to
Western Connecticut in the championship game.

Western New England received the seventh seed after finishing
second in the Great Northeast Athletic Conference with a 13-5 mark
but falling to Johnson & Wales in the first round of the GNAC
Tournament.

"We will remember the LEC Championship game against Western Conn.
for many years to come," said PSU head coach John
Scheinman. "We'll be telling our grandchildren about that
one. It was a very tough loss to take. But this week we
have to re-focus, and prepare for Western New England."

The Panthers are led by senior Nick Pelotte
(Bingham, Maine), who had a sensational LEC Tournament and was
named Most Outstanding Player despite not being on the winning
team. He averaged 35.4 points 6.3 rebounds, 6.0 assists and
2.3 steals while shooting 49 percent from the floor (91-of-186) and
50 percent from three-point range (39-of-78).

PSU is making its ninth appearance in the ECAC Tournament.
The previous showings came in 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997, 1998, 1999,
2002 and 2003. The Panthers advanced to the championship game
in 1994, 1999 and 2002. Plymouth State also participated in
the NCAA Tournament in 1996 and 2004.